


Favors

by Mcusekat



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, Getting Together, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Slow Burn, mentions of gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-04-01
Packaged: 2018-05-13 18:08:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 16,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5712034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mcusekat/pseuds/Mcusekat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Well…” he said. Ryan watched him expectantly. Gavin took a sip of his tea, slowly, before continuing. “I need a favor."</p><p>Ryan is still a new member of the crew, so when Gavin asks him to do something for him, something Geoff can never know about, Ryan isn't sure he can say yes.</p><p>But then he does.</p><p>And now both Ryan’s job and his life are in danger because of Gavin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gavin Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! This fic will be updated every Friday. The fic is completely done, and as it sits, is about 16k words, with every chapter being about 1.3k words.  
> Follow me on Tumblr at [Mcusekat ](http://desertsongs.co.vu)!  
> Thank you for the read and I hope you like it :)

  “Ryan!”

  Ryan jerked awake with a start, his hand darting under the pillow to where he hid his gun before the door swung open to reveal Gavin.

  “Christ, Gavin, what the hell do you want?” Ryan muttered, pulling his hand back to scrub at his face.

  “You don’t know what day it is?” Gavin looked a bit hurt when Ryan’s eyes moved lazily to the calendar beside the door frame.

  “May 23rd? Saturday?”

  Gavin scowled. “No, it's my birthday, you arse.”

  “I'm sorry.  Happy birthday, Gavin,” he said, burying his face in the pillow.

  “Thank you. Now get up, we’re busy today.”

Ryan frowned. They weren't. In fact, they weren't busy for another week, when they started the casino heist.

  “Busy? How?”

  “It’s my birthday!” Gavin threw his hands up in frustration, as though that would make Ryan realize what it was he wanted him to know.

  “Yes, we’ve established that. How does that relate to you waking me up at, Christ, 7am?”

  “On my birthday the crew has to do whatever I want, including you, so get ready.”

  Ryan decided it was too early to argue with Gavin, so he groaned and climbed out of bed. Gavin grinned joyously before closing the door, presumably to wake up the rest of the crew.

~

  When Ryan walked out of the bathroom he saw Gavin was the only one in the living room. He moved to the chair and plopped down to wait for the rest of the crew to finish getting ready, only for Gavin to stand up and tug on his jacket.

  “Ready?”

  Ryan looked around. “What?”

  “Are you ready to leave? My plans are time sensitive so if you’re not ready to leave you should probably get on that,” he said, mildly annoyed.

  “What about everyone else?” he asked.

  “It’s just us for now. Come on,” he said, heading towards the door.

  “Hang on, what exactly are we doing?” Ryan asked.

  “You’re not allowed to ask,” Gavin said too quickly, which made Ryan stop dead in his tracks.

  “Gavin,” Ryan said, and Gavin sighed and turned to face Ryan.

  “I'll tell you soon,” he said. Ryan didn’t move still. “Promise,” he said, offering his pinky.

  Ryan stared at his outstretched finger before grabbing his jacket off the coat rack. “Fine,” he said with a sigh. “Who’s car are we taking?”

~

  Gavin drove them to a small breakfast diner. He got them seats right next to the window facing the street and told Ryan he’d pay. Ryan didn’t argue with that.

  Gavin ordered a tea and waffles, taking the seat across from Ryan. They were quiet for a moment, Gavin staring out the window like he was waiting for someone.

  “So, can you tell me now?”

  Gavin made a face like he’d just been hit, then turned to look at his drink.

  “Well…” he said. Ryan watched him expectantly. Gavin took a sip of his tea, slowly, before continuing. “I need a favor.”

  Ryan narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Oh?”

  “Yes. See the museum over there. One of the people who work there, going by the alias Mark Nutt, has a hit on me.”

  “Let me guess, you want me to take him out?”

  Gavin nodded.

  “Why does he have a hit on you?”

  Gavin hesitated. “I’ll tell you after he’s dead...”

  Ryan studied Gavin’s face for a moment. The lad had secrets, and there were red alarms going off on Ryan’s head, but he didn’t press him further.

  “When do you need it done?” Ryan asked, sighing with resolution.

  “Well, he’s planning the hit tomorrow, so today.”

  Ryan groaned. “Jesus, Gav, some prep time would have been great,” he said, burying his face in his hands.

  “It won't be hard. All you have to do is kill him, I’ll deal with the rest. I already have Kerry and Lindsay on call for cleanup, you just have to text them when you're done,” Gavin said quickly.

  Ryan sighed. “Fine. I'm assuming he’ll be showing up soon, since you keep watching out the window.”

  Gavin nodded bashfully, then pulled his wallet out. He produced a business card from the museum with words and numbers written on the back in pencil and a photograph attached.

  “Here’s everything I’ve got on him. Today's Friday, so he works 8am-3pm, break at 10am, doing tours in the fossil section,” Gavin said.

  Ryan studied the card for a minute, then checked his watch. It was already 8:30.

  “Meet me back here at 10:30am,” he said, standing from the table.

  Gavin grinned wide. “Lovely Ryan. Good luck.”

~

  Gavin was right, it wasn’t hard.

  He then dug his sniper rifle from the trunk of his car and got a vantage point of the museums designated smoking area, and waited.

  At 10:05am he came out of the back door and quickly dug through his pocket for a smoke. Ryan waited a moment in case someone followed him out. When no one did he took him out.

  Ryan sent a text to Kerry and Lindsay reading simply ‘Cleanup.’ and fled the scene.

  True to his word, Gavin was waiting for him when he came out, sitting at the restaurant sipping tea with a cup of coffee sitting adjacent to him.

  Ryan sat across from him and grabbed the cup. It was warm, not hot, so he’d been waiting for some time.

  “There’s sugar in it already.”

  Ryan took a sip and found it perfectly done, two and a half packets of Splenda, two teaspoons cream. He gave Gavin an odd look, and he shrugged shyly. “I remembered from this morning.”

  He nodded slowly. “So, tell me, why didn't you just tell Geoff about Mark? You've obviously knew long enough to gather all this information about him,” Ryan said, tossing the card and the photo back on the table.

  Gavin shrugged. “Figured I’d cut out the middleman. He’d have had you do it anyways,” he said.

  “Or Ray.”

  Gavin didn’t have a retort to that, so he just stayed quiet.

  “I haven’t been in the crew for long, so I'm still considered an at-risk member. If you're going behind Geoff’s back to do something you should probably tell me before I lose my job.”

  “No, it's nothing like that,” Gavin said, fiddling nervously with the edge of the card.

  “Then what's it like?” Ryan said when Gavin didn’t continue.

  “What I tell you, Ryan, you cannot tell Geoff,” the lad said with an uncharacteristically serious look in his eyes.

  Against his better judgement, Ryan nodded. “Okay.”

  “Pinky promise,” Gavin said, offering a pinky.

  Ryan frowned. “Seriously?”

  Gavin nodded, deathly serious. Ryan frowned before locking pinkies with him.

  “My father is the Don of a big mafia in England, and right now he and another big gang are fighting over territory in London. It's pretty big, and the guy you just killed was sent by the rival boss to take out a hit on my head.”

  Gavin paused as Ryan absorbed the new knowledge. The Free mafia was one of the biggest in England, possibly the world. Suddenly Ryan felt a thousand connections being made in his head. Gavin’s money, for one, and his in depth knowledge of the politics of the criminal underworld.

  “I thought you filmed TV pilots,” Ryan said, even though that was the least important of the millions of questions he had floating around in his head.

  “I did, but when your father's a mafia boss it’s kind of hard to have a normal life,” he said.

  “So why can’t you tell this to Geoff?" Ryan said.

  “These gangs, their ruthless. It’s not like the crews here, they’ll stop at nothing to get what they need. They see the people in their command as disposable pawns, so they attack with all they’ve got. No strategy, just blood,” Gavin said with a distant look in his eyes. He shook his head. “I don’t want Geoff getting wrapped up in this, and you know he will. You know how he gets.”

  “Well, what's your plan then? I'm sure the guy won’t just stop after one failed try,” Ryan said.

  Gavin looked down at his tea and shrugged. “Haven’t really thought that far ahead. I was kind of hoping you'd just take them all out for me.”

  Ryan raised his eyebrows at that. “Were you, then?”

  “Not for free, I’d pay you. It’d be just like this, I do all the information gathering work and you just shoot at them,” Gavin said, meeting Ryan’s eyes.

  “Gavin, I really do like my job,” he said. “Maybe Ray will help you?”

  “Ryan, please,” Gavin pleaded. He grabbed Ryan’s arm tight, giving him a pleading look.

  “Fuck me,” he muttered. “Fine, I’ll do it.  But when this inevitably comes out, you're taking 100 percent of the blame.”

  Gavin smiled wide, genuine, leaning back in his seat. “Of course, lovely Ryan!”

  Ryan might’ve smiled back if he hadn't just agreed to place himself square in the middle of a mafia war for Gavin’s sake.


	2. Focus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a new heist comes up, Gavin gets increasingly distracted.

  Gavin didn't breach the subject for a while after that. Of course, Gavin wasn’t around much after that. Mostly he was locked away in his room on his computer, tracking anything the rival mafia put out trying to get info. In the week following Ryan only saw him once, and all he’d said was “Nothing, yet.”

  Life, of course, went. A week from the first shooting they had a meeting to talk about plans for the casino heist and work out any rough edges before preparation.

  Five minutes before the meeting started, Ryan walked in. Geoff and Jack were already there, talking idly amongst themselves. Michael was next, then Ray. Gavin still hadn't shown.

  They waited nearly ten minutes in the conference room before Michael spoke up.

  “What do you think he’s doing?”

  “Jerking off, probably,” Ray said boredly. He was slumped forward on the table. For someone who job required patience, Ray had very little of it.

  “Whatever he’s doing,  I'm going to go stop him,” Geoff said shortly before standing up, shoulders hunched and upper lip curled in a way that could only mean frustration.

  Ryan stood quickly after him, panicked. Geoff had little respect for Gavin’s privacy and he was sure him barging in would jeapordize their mission. “I'll get him,” he said.

  Geoff gave him an odd look before crossing his arms. “O-kay,” he said. “Why?”

  Ryan gulped. He hadn’t thought the far ahead.

  “Yeah, Ryan, never pegged you for an ass kisser,” Michael scoffed.

  Bless him, Ryan thought.

  “I’m not ass kissing, I'm doing my boss a favor,” Ryan said before offering Geoff his most saccharine smile.

  Geoff sat back down in his seat. “Whatever, just be quick.”

  “Yessir,” Ryan said dutifully before leaving the room.

  He speed walked down the hall to Gavin’s room and knocked heavily. “It’s Ryan,” he said to the door.

  “Come in,” Gavin said.

  Gavin was hunched behind his computer, eyes wide as he watched grainy security camera footage of a man being shot down by two men with AK-47s. It was gruesome, but Gavin didn’t flinch when the man was nearly cut in half with a hail of bullets. Afterwards the shooter pulled one of the teeth from the deceased man's mouth and put it in his pocket, then walked out of frame. It looped back after that, showing the dead man walking up to an atm machine as a black car sped to the curb behind him.

  “That’s their souvenir,” Gavin said.

  Ryan nearly jumped, startled by Gavin’s voice.

  “Teeth?” Ryan asked. He walked forward to join Gavin at the desk. He watched the video playback, nearly wincing when the men opened fire.

  “They keep it as proof that the job was completed. The Don keeps them as trophies. Really disgusting trophies.”

  They watched the video in silence for a moment. Gavin paused it, then rifled through some folders and produced a paper with a few low resolution mug shots.

  “These are those men there,” he said, pointing to the photos. “They always work together on jobs,  and they have a 75 percent success rate. I think they’ll be sent after me next, but I’m not sure when. This video is from yesterday so maybe not soon.”

  Ryan hunched over to examine the photos. They were related, perhaps brothers. One was taller than the other, with more facial hair. The other had a neck tattoo reading ‘Amanda’ surrounded by roses.

  “Get as much info on them as you can. Later. We’re having a meeting now, about the casino heist.”

  Gavin looked startled. “Bloody hell, it’s already Friday?”

  Ryan gave him a concerned look. “Yeah. C’mon, Geoff’s waiting. Afterwards, I want to talk to you, alright?”

  Ryan tried his hardest to focus during the meeting, but he kept staring over at Gavin. Gavin, who was usually chipper and jokey, was now sitting in his seat looking distracted and distant. The end of his shirt sleeves were frayed from his picking at them, and his 5 o'clock shadow was turning into a full beard.

  He kept thinking of the video as well.  No one had ever called Ryan merciful, and he had a resilient stomach when it came to gore, but the video just bothered him. He wasn’t sure why, if it was maybe the way the AK tore through the man, splitting him near clean in half, or if it was the trophy taking.

  “Ryan?”

  Geoff’s voice snapped him back to consciousness and he looked up at him.

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you catch any of that?”

  “No, sorry,” he said.

  Geoff groaned. “Alright, for the last time. Ryan, you and I will be entering the casino from the front acting as a distraction while Ray, Gavin, and Michae come in through the back…”

~

  “Hey Gav, can I talk to you for a moment?”

  Ryan heard the words as he stood up to leave the conference room, and he quickly looked over to see Gavin grimace.

  “Sure.”

  Gavin gave him a look before walking over to Geoff, and Ryan left the room.

  Ryan made his way to the kitchen for a drink. Michael was talking to Ray against the counter, so Ryan smiled politely before opening the door to grab a Coke.

  “Hey Ryan. You busy tonight?” Michael asked.

  “Uh, not really, why?” he asked.

  “Wanna go see a movie later today with us all?” Michael said.  

  “It’s a crew tradition so you can't really say no,” Ray added.

  Ryan shrugged. “Sure, what time?”

  “5:30. Don’t forget,” Michael said before taking a hearty swig of his beer. “We’re watching that new scary movie. Heard it's pretty bloody.” Michael smirked, humor in his eyes. Ray snickered as well. “You won't want to miss it.”

  “I won't.”

  Gavin’s room was the first in the hall, so he made sure Ray and Michael weren't watching before ducking inside. Gavin was, to his surprise, there, sprawled on his bed tapping something on his phone. When Ryan walked in he stopped to look over at him.

  “Oh, hey Rye,” he said, lowering his phone to look at him.

  “Hey. What did Geoff talk to you about?”

  Gavin shrugged. “Telling me to get whatever's on my mind off before the heist,  and telling me to stay focussed on my job.”

  “Did you tell him anything?”

  Gavin shook his head, then continued on his phone. “Well, what did you need to tell me?”

  “Well, for one people are going to start getting suspicious if you're locked in here all day. You have to at least try to retain normalcy around everyone. For two, when’s the last time you showered? You look like hell.”

  Gavin smiled. “Worried about me, Rye-bread?”

  Ryan was startled at that. “No, I'm worried about my job,” he grumbled. “Go take a shower, socialize with your friends.”

  “Yessir,” Gavin said, mock saluting Ryan before heading out the door. Ryan stared at it a moment before exiting to his room to get ready for the movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Thoughts so far?


	3. Calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horror movie time! Or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Gavin has a minor anxiety attack.

Gavin was a damn fine actor, Ryan realized. He took a shower, shaved, and by the time the crew was gathering in the living room to head to the theatre he looked almost normal again. 

  He greeted them with a “Sup, bitches?” before joining Michael on the couch, slinging his long legs over his lap. “What movie are we seeing?”

 “Something scary,” Michael said, casting a smug glance to Geoff, who looked pissed as all hell.

  Ryan chuckled, and Gavin looked over at him. They met eyes and Gavin’s facade faltered for a moment. Quickly, he looked back at Geoff and made some joke.

  They drove to the movies in two cars, then regrouped outside the place. Geoff paid for the tickets and they all went in and got seats. Ryan sat in the aisle, and Gavin placed himself right beside him.

  “Are you nervous?” Gavin said when the previews started to roll. He nudged Ryan’s arm playfully. 

  He looked over and frowned. “Not really,” he said. “Horror movies don’t scare me. I'm not seven.”

  “That's no fun,” Gavin said, frowning. He joked, but his shoulders were tense and he looked distracted. 

  The lights shut off as the movie started. It was a campy Texas Chainsaw Massacre clone, depending too much on gore and cheap jumpscares to make Ryan react. Geoff, however, squawked every time anything happened on screen. He learned that that's what the group came for. Ryan couldn't help but laugh every time Geoff got scared. 

  Halfway through the movie was a scene where the villain sawed the male lead in half, and suddenly it wasn’t fun anymore. He felt sick to his stomach, the security cam footage playing and replaying in his mind. Ryan looked down at the carpet and closed his eyes tight, trying to get the image out of his mind.

  “I need to use the restroom,” Gavin whispered to Michael before standing up and speed-walking down the aisle. 

  Ryan didn't hesitated before standing up and following him. 

  The cool air of the lobby calmed Ryan down. He took a drink from the fountain to ease his stomach before entering the restroom.

  Gavin was staring into the sink, watching the swirling water. His knuckles were white where they gripped the edge of the sink, and he barely glanced up when Ryan walked in.

  “Gavin,” he said. “Are you alright?” He placed a hand on the lad's shoulder, squeezing gently when he wasn't shrugged off.

  “Yes, just… give me a moment…”

  “You’re safe,” Ryan said awkwardly. “You’re okay.”

  Gavin choked out a chuckle. “Thanks Rye, you’re very helpful.”

  “Hey, I'm trying. I'm not good at consolation.”

  “Thank you,” he said honestly. “I appreciate it.”

  “Do you want to go somewhere else? We can tell the guys you’re sick, and that the gore made your nausea act up so we left.”

  Gavin relaxed, shoulders falling. He turned to give Ryan a thankful look before speaking. “Please, let's go.”

~

  Ryan and him started a game of Halo and Gavin gradually relaxed. He started talking more, taunting Ryan about his terrible gaming skills even though Ryan was winning by a sizable margin.

  "Hey, bitches. Couldn't handle a scary movie?” Michael teased when the group walked in the house.

  “Hey boi,” Gavin said in his best sick voice. “Did u get the medicine?”

  “Yep. Catch, I'm not coming near your sick ass,” Michael said. “It’s Zofran, the name brand shit. You better be thankful.”

  “I'm very thankful.” Gavin caught the box easily, then opened it and placed one dissolving tablet on his tongue. Once he was settled in he wrapped himself back up and rested against the back of the couch. Ryan felt slightly disappointed that Gavin didn’t rest back against his shoulder, but he didn't show it.

  "You playing Halo?” Ray asked as he stepped into the living room. “I play winner.” He sat on the couch opposite Gavin. Michael followed, sitting in the recliner.

  “I'm after Ray,” he said. He kicked his feet up on the table and watched the screen.

  Geoff and Jack sat in the spare seats, leaning back to watch silently. It wasn’t long before the living room became a cacophony of noise. Somehow, that relaxed Ryan.

  The screen displayed Ryan’s avatar as the winner, and Gavin cursed. 

  “Can I forfeit my remote? I kinda want to watch Ray destroy Gavin,” Ryan said, and Gavin scowled. 

  “No, rules are rules,” Gavin said, shoving his remote to a laughing Ray. 

  “Not when we never established rules,” Ryan said. 

  “Ooh!” Michael taunted, but Gavin just crossed his arms indignantly. 

  They set up the next match and Ryan got into, but he still felt when Gavin leaned into his side, resting his head on Ryan’s shoulder and watching the screen.

~

  “Ryan!”

  Ryan felt a sense of Deja Vù when he woke up to see Gavin standing in the doorway, looking like he had something very important to say. Ryan woke up immediately.

  “Hey Gavin, what's up?” Ryan asked, eyes moving to the clock. 7am. 

  “I found a lead on the-” he broke off to step into Ryan’s room, then closed the door, then continued quieter. “I found a lead on the brothers.”

  “Really?” he asked. He stood up, accepting that he wouldn't be sleeping in. He opened his closet door and sifted through his clothes. “What’d you find?”

  Gavin sat on the end of Ryan’s bed. “I found camera footage of them getting off a plane at the airport, so they're close. They were dressed in casuals, and I sent Lindsay to trail them. They’re meeting with a local faction of their gang this afternoon. That’s the only sure hit I could get for you, so if you can get both of them then…”

  “That’s fine,” Ryan said.

  “Really?”

  “Murdering people is my job. If I could only take one at a time I should probably find a new profession.”

  Gavin smiled wide. “Lovely Ryan. I can help you if you need it. The place is at the man's house, a richer neighborhood. The people around them have expensive security systems, with cameras I can get into.” 

  Ryan paused. “Alright, sounds good.”He turned to face Gavin, then grinned. “So, are explosives out of the question, because I have an idea.”


	4. Car Bombs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan pursues the guys.

  “So, you really can do it? Two people with little prep time…?”

  Ryan was still in Gavin’s room, staring at the monitors displaying the car, the front of the house, and a portion of the neighbors house while Gavin rambled on about how he looped the camera footage on the camera to trick it into thinking no one was there. He’d been silent for nearly an entire minute before asking his question.

  Ryan nodded. “I’ve worked harder, Gav, don’t worry about it.” He patted Gavin on the back. “Besides, I won't be getting close with the car bomb idea. If you do your job here they’ll never even know it was me.”

  “Here,” Gavin said. He handed Ryan an earpiece. “I’ll tell you when someone gets near.”

  Ryan took the earpiece and tucked it in his shirt pocket.

  They talked over the plan for awhile. Gavin was already in the security system, and he had eyes on the living room, kitchen, and hallway. He pointed to white X’s on a blueprint that represented windows, areas he should avoid.

  “I'll watch the house,” Gavin said. “You have a backup plan if you do get seen, right?”

  Ryan nodded affirmatively, then checked his watch. 30 minutes until they started. 

  “Alright, I'm going to go gear up,” Ryan said.

  He took extra precautions this time. The house was residential, late into the day when people would be coming home from work and possibly driving by on their commute home, so there was little room for error. Still, he dressed dark but casual with a bulletproof vest under his shirt. He brought his silenced pistol, his backup plan.

  The last thing he did was double check to make sure his phone was charged and that Lindsay was on speed dial, should shit hit the fan. He was confident things would go smoothly though, Gavin was sharp, and with the lad guiding him he would do fine.

  The halls were eerily silent when he walked out. The building was like a hotel when he was out of the noisy pent, and it alway made Ryan nervous. He plucked the earpiece from his pocket and put it in.

  “Gavin?” he said. 

  “Present. Are you near?”

  “No, still in the lobby. Just making sure this thing works.”

  “Clear on my end.”

  “And mine.” 

  There was a period of silence. Ryan shifted uncomfortably in the elevator, wishing someone would say something. He could hear Gavin typing on his computer and humming some song absently. 

  The elevator doors opened to the private garage with its clean white walls and shiny new cars. He found his at the end of the row and climbed in.

  Ryan was at a red light when Gavin suddenly spoke up. The radio was on quietly, background noise. He turned it down at the sound of Gavin’s voice.

  “So Ryan,” he said. 

  “Yeah?”

  “Every time you get dressed, there's a fifty percent chance all your clothes just disappear, but you get one billion dollars every Saturday. Would you do it?”

  Ryan frowned at the question. “Fifty percent? No.”

  “No? Why not?” Gavin sounded genuinely surprised at the answer. His typing even faltered. It was the first time Ryan had responded to the hypotheticals.

  “What if it happened in the middle of a heist? I'd be left defenseless and probably die. Doesn't matter how much money I'm getting, can't use it when I'm dead,” Ryan said, very matter-of-factly.

  “Fair enough,” Gavin said. “Wait, if you got a billion dollars every week you wouldn't quit?”

  “I need a hobby, don't I?”

 “You have a billion dollars! You could do literally anything!”

  “Am I still one of America's Most Wanted?  Because that severely limits my options,” he said. “I'm a block away from the house.”

  After a second and a few loud mouse clicks, Gavin replied with “No, you're free of any charges.”

  “Okay. I’d also be limited by the fact that my clothes may or may not disappear at any given moment, though.”

  “There’s stuff you can do inside as well. Like painting.”

  Ryan parked his car a safe distance from the house and climbed out. He scanned the scene: there was a few cars on the road, a couple walking down the street ahead of him, a dog lying on the front porch of a house. It was chilly, so it wasn't too suspicious when he pulled his hood on.

  “Yeah, but I'm not into painting,” he said quietly.

  “There’s stuff beside painting! What’re you into? Besides murder?”

  Ryan scoffed indignantly, but didn't try to correct him. “Reading. TV.”

  “Those are both inside hobbies, you loon!”

  Ryan grinned. “You got me there.”

  He stood at the sidewalk a few houses down from the target's house and started strolling towards it.

  “Bloody hell. And people say I'm difficult.”

  “I'm only difficult with you.” After a beat. “I'm at the house, is the coast clear?”

  “Yes. And that's because I'm the only one you ever talk to.”

  Ryan actually stopped dead in his tracks at the realization. Yeah, it was true. He talked to the others, but not one on one, or about stuff other than work or whatever video game they were playing. With six people in the house it was hard to get close to just one, when not prompted with a clandestine bodyguard mission. 

  He speed walked across the road, struggling with a retort. “That’s because I'm the only one who puts up with your shit,” he said.

  “Or because you love me,” Gavin said teasingly. 

  He’d meant it as a joke but Ryan suddenly felt the ebbs of a realization he didn’t want creep up on him. He shoved it back quickly.

  “That's awfully presumptuous. And narcissistic.” 

  Ryan checked the driver's door handle once, then kneeled down to pick the lock.

  “Aww, you don’t love me Ryan?”

  “Do I need to answer that?” The door opened and Ryan reached in and popped the hood. 

  In the earpiece Gavin chuckled. “When you don't it makes it easier to pretend.”

  Ryan heard Gavin’s door open through the earpiece, and he heard Gavin hurriedly click to a different window.

  “Jesus, Geoff, bloody knock!” Gavin exclaimed. 

  “Why? You jacking off?”

  “No, but what if I was?”

  “I’ve seen your dick before,” Geoff said, not missing a beat.

  “It’s different when you're jerking off! Bloody hell, what do you want?”

  “Dinner's ready.”

  “I ate earlier.”

  Ryan could almost feel Geoff’s worried stare through the earpiece.

  “Alright. You know where it is when you're hungry.”

  It was a moment before Ryan heard Gavin’s door click shut. When he did he said “Geoff’s seen your dick before?”

  “You know, when you've lived together for 10 years it happens. Let’s not talk about that anymore.”

  Ryan looked up to the top of the garage door where he knew a camera was and smirked.

  “Get back to work, prick.”

~

  The explosion was large.  Ryan sat in his car, positioned just far enough to not be suspicious but still make sure they were actually dead. 

  It rattled the entire block, taking out a bit of the house it sat in front of as well.  There was gore strewn about as well, mostly concentrated in the radius of the blast zone.

  “Good?” Gavin asked over the piece.

  “Perfect. I'm heading back now,” Ryan said. 

  He took the long way, avoiding the explosion as people gathered around to see what’d happened. 

  There were people in the living room when he walked in, but they were too busy with whatever was on TV to greet him with more than an absent “Hello.” So he slid easily back into his room and started declothing.

  Bullet proof vests were always a relief to get off. It wasn't obvious on movies and TV, but the good ones weighed 30 pounds. Ryan shrugged it off and let his body relax. When he was out of his gear and dressed in pajamas he laid back on his bed with a relieved sigh. There was nothing quite like an explosion to clear his mind.

  It was maybe two minutes in that Gavin knocked on his door before letting himself in. Ryan reckoned he should have looked up and seen who the intruder was but he was too tired to care.

  “Ryan,” Gavin said. 

  Ryan hummed a response.

  “I transferred money to your bank,  so you're paid. And thanks,” he said. “Don’t recall if I said that last time.”

  Gavin sounded slightly embarrassed. Ryan opened his eyes to look at him, wringing his hands and avoiding Ryan’s gaze.

  “No problem,” he said.

  “Yeah,” Gavin wavered.

  “What’s up?” Ryan asked, suspicious.

  “Just… do you want to go for coffee?” 

  Ryan checked his watch. “At 7:30?”

  Gavin looked flustered, and suddenly Ryan realized what the lad was asking. Ryan swallowed hard, opening his mouth to reply but all he could say was “Oh.”

  “Sorry, just- nevermind,” he said before turning on his heel and leaving the room. Ryan stared at the door in shock for an entire minute, mind completely void. When he regained his ability to function he quickly followed Gavin out, cursing at himself.


	5. Could Be Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter nothing goes right.

  Gavin had placed himself strategically between Ray and Michael on the couch, talking and laughing with them as though what happened in the room hadn’t.

  Ryan cursed the lad and started to back away into the hall, but Michael turned around and greeted Ryan, forcing him back into the living room. He sat on the loveseat, eyes trained on Gavin.

  Gavin glanced over as he did so, then quickly looked away, smile faltering. Ryan scrubbed his face with his hands.

  “Hey Rye, how’d it go?” Ray said. Beside him Michael cursed as his character took Ray’s bullet to his head.

  “It went well,” Ryan said, forcing a casual tone in his voice. 

  “I heard about an explosion on the news.  I'm assuming that was you,” Ray said, grinning. “Should have told me you were blowing shit up, I might’ve tagged along.”

  “There's always next time,” Ryan said. 

  “Damn right,” he said.

  Gavin had his eyes focussed pointedly at the TV, knees pulled to his chest.

  Ryan sighed and stood up, unable to handle the environment. If Gavin wanted to avoid him, he wouldn't stop him. Maybe he needed space to work things out in his head. The lad never could handle rejection, even if Ryan hadn't really rejected him. 

  “Where’s Geoff?” he asked.

  “Conference room, I think,” Michael said. 

  He made his way down the hall with the intention of working on the casino heist, but he stopped halfway through. He didn’t really want to work. He was tired enough to feel it in his bones, but not enough to sleep. What he really wanted was to talk to the Gavin, but the lad didn't want to.

  “Fuck,” he muttered before skipping past the room and entering his room.

~

  Ryan knocked on Gavin’s door later that night. It was nearly midnight, but he knew he would be awake, probably staring at the monitors.

  “Come in,” he called. 

  Ryan opened the door slowly. Gavin turned in his chair.

  “Nevermind, leave,” he said. He turned back to face the monitors, still refusing to look at Ryan.

  “Gavin, can we talk?”

  Gavin groaned and scrubbed his face with his hands. “Do we have to? Can’t we just pretend it never happened and go on with our lives?”

  Ryan took a deep breath and spoke quickly before Gavin could stop him. “No, because this is my fault. I misunderstood what you were asking, and I’d like to take you up on your offer. Tomorrow at 10 about? I'll pay.”

  Gavin went still. He turned back around, eyes cautious like he was being set up. “Really?”

  “Yes, really,” Ryan said. 

  Gavin stared at him for a long while, examining him. 

   “Yeah, I'm free for 10.”

  Ryan smiled. “Great, see you then.”

~

  They didn't tell the guys about their date. Ryan was a private person who didn't want them all meddling with something still so new and fragile. Gavin shared the sentiment, so they had an unspoken agreement.

  Ryan wasn't good at dating, he discovered, but Gavin wasn’t either. 

  They were at some coffee shop in Vinewood Boulevard, right on the Walk of Fame. The place was swarming with tourists, but they’d found a quiet corner to talk.

  “I found this list on Google,” he said after the conversation lulled. “It’s called ‘15 great first date questions.’”

  Ryan chuckled. “Really?” 

  Gavin pulled up the page on his phone. He looked a bit bashful. “S’been awhile since I've gone on a date. Some of them are pretty good.”

  “Fair enough. Hit me,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. 

  “I like when you play along,” Gavin said, grinning, before reading out the first question. “Who has been the greatest influence on your life?”

  Ryan frowned. “My parents I guess?”

  “Your parents?” Gavin said, looking wary of his answer. “Thats a bit of a cop out, but I’ll take it. Second question, what really makes you laugh?”

  “I don’t know, you and the guys I guess. I'm pretty easy to make laugh,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

  “What about me specifically makes you laugh?” He leaned forward in his seat, resting his chin on his hand. 

  Ryan raised an eyebrow. “I don't think that's on the list,” he said, giving Gavin a sly look. 

  Gavin smiled, flustered. His cheeks were tinted red and suddenly Ryan felt a pang of fondness in his chest.

  “Shouldn't you answer these questions too? Tell me who your greatest influence is,” Ryan said. 

  “No, after you answer all these,” Gavin said,  holding up the phone so he could see. 

  “All 15?” Ryan groaned. 

  “Fine, you carry the conversation then, “ Gavin said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

  “Okay,” he said. He was quiet for a moment,  trying to think of date appropriate topics. Having been friends with Gavin before he didn’t feel extremely awkward and under pressure, but he certainly felt the raise in stakes. 

  Before he was the Vagabond, Ryan was a bodyguard for hire for nearly three years. Thus, he was good a detecting mood and noticing small changes in body language. So when Gavin went from playful to serious, he noticed.

  “What’s wrong? “ he asked quietly, leaning in close.

  “That man keeps looking over here, “ he said. “He’s looking away now. He’s in the blue polo.”

  Ryan looked quickly. He looked neat, pale hair and brown eyes,  impeccably dressed in expensive but not flashy clothes. He kept his back straight and there was a forced causality to the way he was talking to the waitress. His trigger finger tapped the table impatiently. It was minor stuff that the casual viewer wouldn't notice, but Ryan and Gavin had been in the game long enough to know this mam was out for blood, most likely theirs. 

  “You think he after us?” Ryan asked. Dumb question, he knew. The man had placed himself at an angle where he could watch them and still not be noticeable about it.

  Gavin nodded tensely. “I know he is. What do we do? Do you have a piece?”

  “Of course,” Ryan scoffed, patting his hip where the gun was concealed by his coat. 

  Gavin seemed to relax a bit at that. “Strategy?”

  “Act natural,” he said. “The longer the guy thinks we don't know, the better.”

  Gavin nodded, forcing himself to relax a bit.

  “Text Kerry to try to scramble security footage. It’s crowded enough that staff and visitors may not get a good look at our face, but we can also hire false witnesses to mix up police.”

  Gavin froze. “No, we're not telling Geoff about this,” Gavin said adamantly.

  Ryan hesitated, but didn't argue. “Fine.”

  Gavin released a breath of air and nodded. “Okay,” he said. He pulled out his phone and texted Kerry. It took awhile before Kerry responded with a ‘Done.”

  “Okay. Let’s go,” Ryan said. 

  “Go where?” 

 “Draw him away from the crowd.” 

  Gavin nodded, trusting him.

  They left a good tip, then exited through the front door. 

  Ryan knew the alleyways of Los Santos like the back of his hand. He took a couple until they were between an empty storefront and a place that wasn't too busy, then paused. The man was following them at a safe distance, waiting for a good moment to strike. He kept Gavin, his target, ahead of him the whole time. He didn't know know for sure that would keep the guy from shooting, but if anything he'd have went after him first, giving Gavin time to flee.

  “What now, “Gavin asked. 

  Ryan leaned up against the wall in an effort to look casual. “Wait for the man to show up. When he does, we shoot.”

  Gavin looked horrified. It was very easily the fist shootout he'd been in where he was the main target, not him and five other people.

  Ryan reached out and took his hand experimentally. Gavin looked up at him, startled. 

  “Hey,” Ryan said, giving him a reassuring smile.

  “Hey,” Gavin replied, smiling back. 

  “We’ll be fine. You've got Los Santos’ best merc on your side.”

  “It’s not the guy I'm worried about,” Gavin said. “It’s keeping this away from Geoff.” 

  Ryan wasn't sure what to say to that, so he kept quiet. 

  It wasn’t a second later that Gavin jerked away, sparks flying on the brick next to his head. He fell to the side Ryan drew his weapon and opened fire towards the shot. Three quick shots startled the man into not firing while Ryan gained awareness of his surroundings. The fourth shot hit flesh.

  It wasn’t fatal, but it was enough to slow the man down while Ryan and Gavin took cover behind a dumpster. 

  “Are you alright?” he asked as he reloaded his clip.

  Gavin, beside him, nodded. “Great,” he said louder than necessary. “My ear is ringing.”

  “Text Kerry for cleanup. As soon as this man is down we run the way we came. Can you hear me?”

  “Sort of,” Gavin said, almost a shout.

  Ryan broke cover, aiming his gun where he’d last seen the man and prayed he hadn't moved. His finger rested on the trigger and he could hear his heart beat in his ears. There were already sirens blaring in the distance. He had to come up soon.

  Ryan held his breath. 

  The man appeared right in his sights, and he squeezed. It hit the man right between the eyes. Ryan let out his breath, relaxing.

  The body hadn't even hit the ground before Gavin and Ryan were fleeing.


	6. Firsts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drop offs and filler chapters

  It could have gone worse, Ryan decided.

  Gavin regained hearing in his ear after a few days, and they hadn't found any evidence at the scene that could lead back to them. That alone was two good points. They were both alive, so three. Even better, Geoff didn't suspect anything. Four.

  Life went on. The heist drew ever nearer, and often the crew was split up on different pickup jobs, toting weapons or cash across the state. Thus, Gavin and Ryan barely had time to chat between jobs.

  It was the day before the heist that Gavin knocked on Ryan’s door and asked if they could talk.

  “Yeah, what's going on?” Ryan asked, concerned.

  “Oh, nothing. I just… missed you I guess.”

  A blush spread along his cheeks, and Ryan smiled.

  “You missed me? You mean you didn't get enough of me last week?”

  “Of course not, you pleb.”

  Gavin subtly leaned closer to where Ryan stood, eyes glancing to Ryan’s lips, then down to the ground.

  “I'm about to go on a supply run. I'm sure Geoff wouldn't mind you tagging along if you're not busy right now,” Ryan offered.

  “Where at?”

  “Chiliad. Not too long a drive.”

  “Sounds good. I'll go get dressed.”

  Gavin went back to his room to gear up, leaving Ryan alone. He felt a vague feeling of regret having not kissed the lad. That glance, the quick look away and blush, that was an invitation to do so if Ryan’s ever seen one, and God he wanted to.

  He groaned, burying his face in his hands a moment before continuing his process of getting ready.

  He walked out of his room and greeted the scattered crew members. The only ones who weren't on a job were Jack and Ray. Jack was half asleep on the loveseat and Ray was absently playing some fps on the Xbox.

  “Hey,” they both murmured.

  Gavin joined him a few minutes later.

  “Ready?” Ryan asked.

  Gavin nodded, and they both headed out.

  “Can I drive?” Gavin asked as they approached Ryan’s Zentorno. It was his pride and joy, blue almost black with a top speed of 250. He ran an appreciative hand over the hood as he walked to the driver's seat.

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Why not?” Gavin asked, indignant.

  “You don't even have your license. I'm not letting you drive my million dollar supercar.”

  “And you do have your license?”

  “Yep.”

  Gavin looked a little startled, pausing to look at him over the hood as he climbed in the car. “Really?”

  “Yeah. I'm not getting arrested for something stupid like no license. The less trouble I draw to myself the better.”

  “That's absurd!”

  Ryan frowned at him. “How so?”

  “You’re on the FBI’S most wanted list and you went to traffic school? And I thought you faked your own death? How can you get a license?”

  “The license is under my pseudonym, James King.”

  “Can I see it?”

  Ryan shrugged, digging through his pocket for his wallet. “Here,” he said, tossing it to the lad.

  The car was silent for a moment, just the hum of the engine as Ryan drove and the murmur of the radio turned to one.

  Gavin suddenly burst out laughing. “This is incredible. I think you're the only one in the crew that has a license.”

  Ryan scowled at him. “No, doesn't Geoff?”

  “It's not real,” he said.

  Ryan had no response beyond a grumpy mutter.

  “Don't be bitter. It's endearing that you of all people might be breaking the law less than any of us.”

  Ryan scowled at him, taking his wallet and license back. “Don’t judge how I live my own life.”

  “Alright,” he said, laughing as he reclined back in his seat. Ryan couldn't help but laugh as well.

  Ryan felt more relaxed than he had the entire week. He let himself savor it, not wanting to let the moment go. When they stopped at Chiliad he hesitated before climbing out, exiting the peaceful atmosphere and entering work.

  “Where’s the drop off?” Gavin asked.

  “It's just off this hiking trail.” Ryan pointed to a rarely used trail a ways past the visitor's center, and they started out.

  “How far out is it?” Gavin asked.

  “30 minute walk down the trail and a couple minutes off.”

  Gavin made an annoyed face, but didn't say anything.

  Some time passed. The trail was mostly dead grass and skinny trees, not much to look at. This was why it wasn't very used. This, and the distance from the city. Most people used Griffith Park for their hiking needs.

  “So, are you ready for the job?” Gavin asked suddenly.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Are you?”

  “I'm always ready.”

  Ryan chuckled. He glanced over at Gavin and saw him a half-step behind, staring down at Ryan’s hand.

  “Yeah, me too.”

  Gavin looked up, noticed Ryan staring, and blushed.

  “Gav,” Ryan chuckled before moving to hold Gavin’s hand.

  The lad bit his lip to keep from grinning so wide, and Ryan had to laugh at him. He squeezed his hand gently, tugged it to keep Gavin close to him.

  When they reached the drop off site and they had to separate, he felt actually bummed about it.

  It was near an old outpost, a crappy little shed that was less a shelter than it was a couple moldy planks so sunken into the ground that they were still standing.

  Ryan lifted a plank and dropped the duffel of money into the dank worm pit, then covered it back up.

  “Ew,” Gavin said at the bugs fleeing the movement.

  Ryan stood back up and patted his hands off on his jeans. “So that's it?” Gavin asked.

  “Yep.”

  Gavin hummed. “Let’s go back home then,” he said, grabbing Ryan’s hand and tugging him back in the direction of the trail.

  The walk back felt shorter. When they reached the car they were both a bit worn out, but happy.

  It was Gavin who initiated the kiss. Ryan started to move to the driver's side, but Gavin held firm, separated their hands, and moved closer.

  Ryan was quick to catch on to Gavin’s plans. He was eventually the one to close the distance, hands holding Gavin’s waist.

  It wasn’t the best kiss in the world; they were still learning how they fit with each other, but it was still incredible. Gavin’s hands tangled in Ryan’s hair, holding him close and deepening it when he decided he didn't want to pull away. Ryan pressed Gavin gently against the side of his car, moving as close as he could.

  “Bloody hell,” Gavin gasped when they pulled away for air.

  Ryan leaned his forehead against Gavin’s, staying close. Gavin didn't give him leeway to pull away anyhow.

  Gavin was leaning in for another when Ryan’s phone rang. Gavin groaned, pulling back so Ryan could answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Are you done with the drop off?” Geoff. Ryan put it on speaker so Gavin could hear.

  ”Yeah, why?”

  “Alright. Just checking in. Hurry home if you can, quick meeting in 30 minutes.”

  “Okay. See you then,” Ryan said. He hung up and shoved his phone back in his pocket.”

  Gavin’s hands tightened for a moment before letting Ryan go.


	7. False Alarm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lllllet's heist!

  “Ready?” Geoff asked.

  There was a flurry of affirmatives from the crew.

  It was heist day. The gents sat in a black van swathed in the neon of the casino. They wore all black with masks, balaclavas, and had large guns in their hands. At Geoff’s word, Jack was ready to drive the van right up to the front door and let the two out.

  At the door of the count room in the casino was the lads, ready to bust in and take the cash. They were dressed in black as well, hiding their faces and carrying guns as well as bags to put the money in. 

  “Alright, three...two...one… go!”

  Everything burst into motion then. In the car, Jack pressed the gas and swung the van close to the door, and two armed men came out and entered the floor of the casino, shooting down the guards who tried to stop them. Jack followed, guarding the door and watching their backs. Around the building, various members of the B-Team disguised as patrons pulled their pieces and kept the crowd in control.

  “Put everything in the bags! Money, jewelry, everything!” Geoff demanded. Behind him, Ryan scanned the crowd.

  In the counting room, a plain white room filled with guards and money, the lads traversed puddles of blood and dead bodies as they shoved bills in their bags. They watched the door as they did so, but there was only one entry way and the lot of the guards were held up on the main floor with the gents.

  Geoff and Jeremy walked around with bags as shaking patrons shoved their cash in.

  Ryan remained completely still, pale blue eyes sliding over the crowd, watching for any heroes. He was in character; he was the scary, infamous Vagabond. People knew him, and people knew better than to do anything when he had a gun trained at their head. 

  It made his job easy, being infamous. All he had to do was stand there menacingly.

  “We’re heading out,” Michael said quietly into the comm.

  “Okay. We’ll be there soon.”

  In the counting room, the lads started for the roof, where a helicopter was being started up. Lindsay was pilot, and beside her was Matt, piloting the gun. When the lads climbed in she told Geoff.

  “All in, boss. Hurry up.”

  Back on the floor, the duffel they’d brought was full of stolen goods, and heavy. Geoff tossed it to Jack, who caught it with ease. They piled into the elevator as the B-Team released the hostages and chaos ensued. They would blend in with the civilians, escape in unmarked cars. The real patrons would have been too distracted by the people with bigger guns to recognize the people with smaller ones.

  Once everyone was in the chopper, it took off.

  “That was fucking fun,” Geoff said over the comm, voice overpowered by the chopper otherwise.

  “Hell yeah it was,” Michael agreed, giant grin on his face. He nudged Gavin, beside him. There was blood on the front of his shirt, still damp enough that he had to keep peeling it off his torso. “Gavin fucking tripped and fell in a puddle of blood. That was fucking hilarious.”

  Geoff and Michael burst into laughter, and Gavin scowled. He quickly moved to hug Michael, pressing his front against Michael’s so his shirt got blood all over it. Michael shoved him off with curses and groans.

  “You fuck,”he cursed, assessing the damage.

  Gavin backed away from Michael, but his snickering showed he was only half afraid of Michael’s retaliation.

  Michael lunged, and Gavin jerked back. He bumped right into Ryan, then quickly scooted behind him for cover.

  “Ryan help!” he yelped, half in panic and half in humor.

  “As if,” Michael scoffed, moving to navigate Gavin’s body shield. 

  Ryan put his arm out, blocking Michael’s way. “Settle down, children. This thing has a giant hole on both sides and no one in this place has a parachute on,” Ryan said.

  Michael scowled at Gavin but he relented. 

  “My hero,” Gavin said, and Geoff laughed.

  “Playing Gavin’s bodyguard now, Rye? How’d he swindle you into that?”

  Ryan was struck for a moment, sputtering, “I, uhh…” dumbly before coming to his senses. “I'm just doing what needs to be done. It's only a matter of time until one of these dumbasses falls out.”

  Back on the ground, back home, Ryan made a beeline to his room. 

  Geoff’s words had startled him. It was just some stupid joke, but for a split second he had panicked like it wasn't.

  Ryan was skilled at what he did, and he had a reputation to back him up, but lying to your boss canceled all that out. Geoff was a kind man who cared deeply about his crew, but when, not if, he found out about what had been going on, Ryan had no clue how Geoff would react. He was legitimately scared.

  Gavin knocked on his door after a while, pushing it open when Ryan called out.

  Gavin was freshly showered, damp hair stuck to his forehead and messy from towel drying. He was wearing a shirt that was too big on him, and boxers. When he walked in, it was hesitant, like he was contemplating turning and leaving. 

  “Hey Rye,” Gavin said. 

  “Hey Gav. What's up?”

  “Not much. Are you feeling alright?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “What Geoff said on the plane. Caught me off guard. I was wondering if it did you too?” Gavin looked tired, eyes hooded and dark. 

  “Yeah, it did. He doesn't know though, we're just over thinking. Come here,” Ryan said, scooting so Gavin could lay in bed with him. Respectfully, he left plenty of room for Gavin to lay comfortably without touching him,  but Gavin immediately curled into Ryan’s side like a koala. Not that Ryan minded.

~

  “Gav?”

  Geoff’s voice was muffled through the walls, but still loud enough for the two of them to hear. 

  It was morning then, still early enough for his room to be just barely lit with the natural light. 

  Geoff never slept in. Every day it was 6am on the dot, whether he got two or 20 hours of sleep, so it wasn't weird for him to be awake then.

  Gavin yawned, stretched, and climbed out of Ryan’s arms to open the door and reply with “Yeah?’

  He heard Geoff walk down the hall, saw him peek into the door at Ryan. Ryan feigned sleep.

  “What's up?” Gavin asked.

 “I was just wondering if you were okay. You missed movie night last night.”

  “Yeah, I'm fine. After you're covered in real blood you kinda don't want to see even fake blood.”

  “Fair enough…” he trailed off. Ryan couldn't see Geoff frown at him, but knew he did.

  Once Geoff was gone, Gavin hobbled back to bed and slid himself between Ryan’s arms. He buried his face in his chest and sighed before going to bed. He knew that that was something he'd have to deal with later. 

~

  Gavin was in his room, switching between security camera footage, when Ryan walked in. He turned around to greet him, pulling off his headphones.

  “Brought you tea. Two sugars no cream, right?” 

  Ryan handed over the mug and Gavin gave him an appreciative nod. “Thank you, love.

  Ryan raised an eyebrow at the pet name but didn't mention it. 

  “Come join us in the living room. Michael and Ray are playing Mario Kart,” Ryan said. 

  Gavin looked over at his computer. “I dunno. I haven't heard anything from the other gang in too long. It's worrying me.”

  Ryan sighed. “Well, you can't stay locked in your room all the time. Come out for an hour at least, please?”

  Gavin gaze softened. “Yeah, sure. One hour.”

  He turned his monitor off and followed Ryan out.

~

  One hour turned into the whole evening.

  Geoff ended the Mario Kart game after his 14th consecutive game in last place (“This games for kids anyways, who gives a shit?”), so they switched over to Netflix and put on a movie. They turned off the lights, and Gavin wrapped himself on a duvet and pressed close to Ryan. 

  Geoff kept giving them both weird looks, but Ryan had gone through the whole day without Geoff saying anything about it to him so he let it slip his mind. 

  They went through three movies before people started scattering for bed. When they retired, Gavin nearly headed to his room, no doubt to continue with his search, before instead following Ryan to his.


	8. Work

* * *

  Geoff approached Ryan first.

  Or rather Ryan was in the kitchen when Geoff walked in to get a drink. It was two days after the heist, a lazy day. Geoff had been occupied with post heist stuff. They'd made a staggering $20 million off the casino heist, but It’d taken nearly $1 million to operate in just pre-heist setup; weapons drops, blueprint costs, etc.. Still, after the B-Team got their cut and clean up commenced, each member would get an estimated $2.5 million, which was still a lot of money.

  “Hey Ryan,” Geoff said.

  “Hey Geoff. How’s clean up going?” Ryan asked.

  Geoff shrugged. “Boring as shit. Matt got sloppy with security cameras and one of them got a look at his face. I've spent all morning trying to scramble police data on him.”

 “Is there anything I can help with?”

  Geoff thought for a moment. “Sure, go beat the shit out of Matt for being a dumbass.”

  “Anything that doesn't involve beating up my friends?”

  “Nope.”

  Ryan shrugged, then cracked open his coke.

  “So you and Gav are pretty close now, eh?”

  Ryan cringed, thankful that Geoff couldn't see. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

  “How did that happen? Never saw you two together much before that,” he said.

  Ryan shrugged again. “We just got to talking one night, his birthday actually. It happened pretty fast, a week or so from actually talking to when he asked me out,” Ryan said.

  Geoff seemed to accept the answer. “Don't let it interfere with the crew, alright? What we've got here, the dynamic, it works. It works fuckin’ great. So don't let that change too much and everything will be golden. Alright?”

  “Of course,” Ryan said.

  Geoff smiled but he was still watching Ryan cautiously. It didn't take a genius to know Geoff didn't trust him with Gavin, but Ryan had somewhat expected that. Geoff was like Gavin’s father figure in an odd sort of way.

~

  The Fake AH Crew was famous for their big heists, their gang fights, but they did a large array of stuff for hire. Ray, for example, was a sniper as well as the third party between the drug manufacturer and the dealers. Ryan did assassin work for hire as well as the occasional hacker stuff. Jack controlled the majority of the weapons trade in Los Santos, as well as doing some getaway driver work that involved aircrafts. Michael was a designer drug dealer for the more illustrious side of Los Santos, celebrities and the such. He also crafted and peddled bombs to gangs. Gavin was an anonymous hacker for the likes of the government and anyone rich enough to pay for him.

  They kept their single jobs separate from the crew. They each had code names; Ray was X-Ray, Ryan was Edgar, Jack was Beardo, Michael was Sun, and Gavin was Vav. If the police knew the did stuff on the side it would be easier to catch them, so they were careful.

  Ryan sometimes preferred his assassin work to big heists. Before he was with the crew he was a freelance hitman as the Vagabond, so his hit jobs as Edgar made him weirdly nostalgic. He still occasionally freelanced as the Vagabond, just as Ray did with Brownman, but that was increasingly less frequent than Edgar.

  His job that night was a sniping job, a simple hit. The man was the husband of a woman who wanted his money, a “Sugar Daddy.”

  The man was a drinker, so Ryan sat on the top of a gas station across from a bar and watched for him. The woman said he was tall and heavyset, with short grey hair. He would be wearing a blue suit with a black tie that night.

  Ryan never preferred sniping. He preferred more hands-on jobs, found a sick satisfaction in using a knife. Sniping was easier though, less risky, less cleanup (for them). He saved those jobs for the Vagabond. Brutal and bloody was his calling card. Edgar was just another hitman with a sniper rifle.

  The man appeared just after 7:30pm. Ryan followed him with his scope as he strolled down the street towards the bar. He was talking to another man, a business partner maybe. Ryan would have preferred to not have people around when he shot the man, but it seemed as though he’d have to.

  He took aim, putting the cross hairs just above the man’s forehead, then squeezed the trigger.

  The man crumpled to the floor. There was a heavy pause before people realized what was happening, then screamed. His friend looked in shock, backing away with his mouth agape.

  Ryan leaned back, began deconstructing the rifle with a practiced expertise, then took a couple back alleys away from the scene. Before five minutes had passed be was gone

  Ryan didn't feel like going back to the penthouse, so he decided to finally do the job Geoff has asked him to do awhile ago. He was in the mood for action, not snipes from the roof of a convenience store, so he went to his spare apartment where he kept his big guns.

  It was under the name “James King” and he was alway careful to keep no trace of himself in this place. It was good for storing his more incriminating artifacts; rocket launchers, Uzis, all the illegal ones, as well as a collection of guns he used on the more high profile killings and heists.

  The apartment itself was small. He never spent more than a week in here, and it showed. It was very unattached; no photos on the wall, a twin mattress with a dusty white sheet and thin blanket, and a small TV. Even before he moved into the pent he lived in a bigger place in the better side of town.

  He opened the closet and pushed aside the clothes and hangers. Behind them was a false wall, opening to the true wall only a couple inches behind. The real wall had an array of guns and knives hung up, biggest towards the top and smallest towards the floor.

  He looked them all over before grabbing the rocket launcher, disassembling it and shoving it in a duffel. He wiped his fingerprints, put the false wall back up, then sent Gavin a text. He knew the lad was probably at his computer this late into the evening.

_‘Hey, you busy?’_

_‘Booty call? I'm free as a bird ;)’_

  Ryan scoffed. ‘ _Not a boot call. Gear up and meet me in front of the building in 5.’_

  He stored the rocket launcher and ammo in the trunk of his car, then drove out to the pent.


	9. Fire

  Gavin was standing on the sidewalk in front of the building, dressed in darker clothes. He was tapping on his phone, the conical light illuminating his face slightly. Ryan had to honk to get his attention.

  “You’re wearing the Vagabond getup. Are we going to break some laws tonight?” he asked when he climbed in the car.

  “Yeah we are. Geoff asked me to dispose of that car we used in a chase a while ago.”

  He grinned at the prospect of blowing things up. “Oh, Rye, you know the way to a man's heart.”

  Ryan smiled. “I thought you’d like to tag along.”

  They drove to the safe house and switched to a flatbed, then hooked up a car trailer and loaded the little Subaru they’d used. It was a small car, unassuming. At the time they hadn't expected to go on a car chase, and it was only because of Jack's incredible knowledge of the city streets that they'd gotten away.

  They drove an hour out of town to a little field of dirt, unloaded the car, and set up. Gavin doused the thing in gasoline while Ryan set up the rocket launcher. 

  “Can I do it?” Gavin asked. 

  “Be my guest.”

  Gavin grinned. They moved Ryan’s car a safer distance, then ducked behind it. Gavin took aim, using the front hood to keep it steady. 

  The explosion was incredible, a stack of flames burst from the tiny car as debris flew every which way. Gavin grinned wide before turning to Ryan. The light of the ensuing fire lit up half of his face in a dramatic way, reflecting in his gold glasses.

  “That was incredible!” he said.

  Ryan smiled at him. They leaned on the front of the car and watched it burn. It was contained. The field was all dirt and they'd made sure there wasn't anything around that would catch fire. When they were on their way out he would call the fire department, but Gavin liked watching fire.

  Ryan understood. Everyone in the crew had this lust for destruction, themselves included. 

  Gavin reached over and held his hand, then leaned on his shoulder.

  “Kinda messed up how this is romantic to us,” Ryan said. 

  “What, you think normal people don't find watching a car burn is romantic?”

  Ryan noticed his glasses were off, tucked onto the front of his shirt. The orange-ish light brought out the green in his eyes, enhanced his features. He looked less tired, younger than he had before. His smile looked more authentic.

  Gavin slid his arms around Ryan’s shoulders and pulled him in closer. His kiss was slow, sweet. Ryan reached out and put his hand on Gavin’s hip, just on the waist of his jeans.

  Gavin deepened the kiss, sidling onto Ryan's lap so he had a better angle. Ryan placed both his hands on Gavin’s waist then, thumbs resting over his hip bones, so close to the front of his jeans that Gavin shuddered at the touch.

  “Do you wanna…?” Gavin asked, hand sliding under Ryan's shirt. His fingertips were feather light when he slid them over Ryan’s abdomen.

  Ryan could only manage a nod, his throat closed at even the idea. 

  “Let’s do it in the back seat, in case someone drives by,” Gavin said, eyes flicking to the road.

  “If someone drives by I think getting caught fucking would be the least of our worries,” he managed.

  Gavin laughed. He took Ryan’s hand, pulled him into the back seat of his car, and started at his neck, legs bracketing Ryan’s hips. Gavin was a silhouette with his back to the fire, so Ryan explored his body with his hands alone.

  Not that either of them were complaining.

~

  Ryan felt strung out. Gavin was limp in his lap, head tucked in the crook of his neck so his breathes fanned out over his collar with each pant. His thumb was absently brushing against Ryan’s jawline, caressing his neck. It was all Ryan could focus on, all he wanted to focus on.

  “That was awesome,” Gavin muttered.

  “Yeah?” was all Ryan could manage. 

  He hummed an affirmative. “Car sex is pretty top. Difficult, but top.”

 Ryan closed his eyes and leaned into Gavin’s touch. 

  “I want to sleep forever now,” he said. 

  “I agree. Let’s go home,” he said. 

  It took them a moment to gather the will to get up, and to untangle themselves from each other. It wasn’t hard to redress, not a single garment had come completely off, which was fairly uncomfortable for them during, but car sex in itself wasn't the most comfy activity. Especially not in Ryan’s small supercar. 

  Ryan was halfway to the driver's seat when Gavin cleared his throat. 

  “Can I drive?”

  Ryan raised an eyebrow. He was in too good of a mood to deny Gavin, so he tossed his keys to the lad and crossed back to the passenger’s side.

  Gavin revved the engine, grinned as it purred to life. 

  “Be easy on the gas, this car is very fast,” Ryan warned as he buckled his seat belt.

  “I know,” Gavin answered. He turned on the radio and rolled down the windows before buckling his seat belt. Ryan found that discerning, but suddenly the car bucked forward, shifting everything on the car forward. Ryan opened his mouth but Gavin raised his hand and assured him it was fine.

  They peeled out of the dirt lot at 70 heading back to Los Santos 

~

  The next day was less eventful. The crew gathered around the TV and did their own thing. Ryan read from his Kindle, Ray, Michael, and Gavin all played some multiplayer game on their DS, Geoff played some first person shooter that had come out over the weekend, and Jack fiddled with something on her laptop.

  Gavin looked happy. He hadn't been in his room since they day after the heist, hadn't talked to Ryan about a hit. Ryan hoped it was him actually not worrying and not him internalizing it, but Ryan didn't bring it up. Gavin looked genuinely happy, and that's all that mattered.

  Gavin fidgeted in his seat, then adjusted his position so he was resting his head on Ryan’s lap, legs slung over Michael’s lap. Michael shoved him off immediately, to which Gavin protested.

  “Micoo why?”

  “Cause you're a fuckin’ cheater, that's why,” he grumbled.

  Gavin snickered in response. “You’re just mad cause you're losing,” Gavin said.

  Michael glared at him, but there was no real menace behind it.

  “Ray’s in first, be salty at him,” Gavin added.

  “Oh I am,” he said, scowling over the top of his DS in Ray’s direction. Ray grinned smugly at him, but had no retort.

  Michael looked back down just as a grin broke out on his face.

  Gavin hesitantly put his legs back on Michael’s lap, and he let him.

  “Bollocks!”

  Michael sniggered and Gavin cursed again, twisting his entire DS as he struggled to get his fake car back on track. 

  “Prick!”

  “Oh, I'm a prick for doing the exact same thing you did not ten minutes ago?” 

  On his recliner, Ray chuckled.

  Ryan smiled at the bickering lads. He hadn't heard them like that in a while, and it was nice to hear it again.

  When they all turned in for bed that night, Gavin pulled him into his room by the hand. They dressed quietly, then curled into each other.

  Gav twisted in his arms carefully, not jostling Ryan. He rested his forehead against Ryan’s chest, then very quietly started talking.

  “You're busy tomorrow, aren't you?” he asked.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Day after tomorrow, do you maybe want to go out for dinner?” he asked. “I'll pay. It's a lovely little place, that Italian place in Vinewood. Quiet.” He sounded shy.

  “I'd love to,” Ryan said.

  Gavin smiled sleepily. “Brilliant.”


	10. Breakfast

Ryan felt weary. He hadn’t wanted to get up that morning, with Gavin curled around him. The lad slept with the window open, said he couldn't sleep otherwise, and the cold air made everything that wasn't under their blanket feel like Antarctica. 

  He had a meeting that day, though, as Edgar with a prospective client. It took him many minutes to gather the willpower to pry Gavin off of him, but he did.

  Geoff was the only one awake then, so they talked idly while Ryan made himself breakfast. 

  “Where will the meeting be?” Geoff asked. 

  “The park at 5th street,” Ryan said as he pushed around an egg with a fork.

  “Alright. I'll send Jeremy to keep an eye out. How much are you going to charge her? Because we need more ammo for the next heist.”

  Geoff walked away to make the call and Ryan focussed on his breakfast.

  Ray joined him in the kitchen, boosting himself onto the counter beside where Ryan was preparing his meal.

  “Half a million, I'm thinking. She's pretty rich. Trust fund kid, dad died mysteriously a couple years ago and left her billions, as well as a business in trade.”

  Geoff whistled, impressed. Ray entered at that moment and hopped onto the counter between the two.

  “Did you make me anything?” he asked, reaching for Ryan's plate.

  “Nope,” he said. He moved his plate away from Ray, who scowled.

  “Come on, man, be cool,” Ray said, nudging Ryan with his knee.

  “Say the magic word and I'll consider making you breakfast,” Ryan said.

  Ray groaned laboriously. 

  Gavin walked in soon after, rubbing his eyes. He walked over to Ryan and eyed the scene. 

  “You making breakfast?”

  “Yeah. For myself.”

  “Aww Rye-bread, c’mon,” Gavin said. 

  He rolled his eyes dramatically. “Well I guess I'll just make everyone breakfast then. But you guys are helping because I don't have much time before I need to go, and I'd like to eat my own breakfast first.”

  “Lovely Ryan,” Gavin cooed before handing him a carton of eggs. 

~

  The park was quiet that day. The sky was heavy with threats of rain, and the world was dim around him.

  Ryan sighed. Gavin was busy that day, a shame because Ryan really wanted to go home and just lie in bed with him until the gloom passed. Bad weather always made him sleepy. 

  Across the street a white car parked. The woman who climbed out was obviously his client. Her clothes were expensive-looking, and the way she walked screamed upper class. It was with confidence, nose slightly turned upwards like she was disgusted with the world. She sat at the bench across from Ryan, then glanced around before pulling her glasses off. She tucked them into her large purse on her right side. There was a slight lilt to her lip, like a smirk being repressed. Ryan prepared himself to grab his gun quickly.

  “Edgar?”

  “That's me.”

  She unzipped her purse and pulled out a business card. She laid it flat on the table, face down, then slid it over to him. 

  Ryan grabbed it and flipped it over. The words were handwritten, small, and Ryan had to squint to read them.

_ ‘We have Free. Follow me to my car, calmly, if you would ever like to see him alive again.’ _

  He read it and reread it, his mind racing. His first instinct was to shoot, but he gritted his teeth to resist the urge to attack. He looked up calmly, spoke calmer. “You're bluffing.”

  “Perhaps, but what if we do? If you don't comply we’ll kill him now.”

  Ryan tightened his fist. He was truly cornered, and he hated the feeling of helplessness. “You're with the mafia, right? What the hell do you want with me?”

  “You’re our targets bodyguard. We can't afford you going after him.”

  Ryan felt small relief in knowing they didn't know about the crew. 

  “Fine.”

~

  Ryan was crowded into the back of a van, where he was promptly stripped of his weapons and body armor. They were thorough, even finding the lock pick sewn into the hem of his sleeve. Once he was defenseless, they tied his wrists and ankles with both rope and zip ties. Finally, they blindfolded him.

  Ryan didn’t struggle. He stayed calm. His captors were few, a couple people in full black, including masks, and the woman. The masked people sat around him, guns in hand, while the woman drove. 

  “So tell me, Edgar,” the woman said, “Who do you work for.”

  “No one,” he said. “I'm freelance.”

  “Gavin Free is the son of a mob boss. I don't believe that he'd hire some unknown freelancer.” She was short, no bullshit.

  “Well he did,” Ryan said, sneering.

  “There's more to this story. We have time, so spill,” she said. 

  “Christ, what do you want to hear?”

  “Your real name would be of help,” she said.

  “James Edgar King,” Ryan said.

  The car was silent. Ryan listened for any tell of location. He didn't even hear the city any more. He swallowed lump growing in his throat. His mind was racing with thoughts, like how to get out of this situation, if Gavin was okay, if Gavin was even wherever they were taking him.

  “No it isn't. You wouldn't be so willing to give it up,” she said. “Lie to me one more time…” Her words wavered with a threat.

  Ryan gulped. “Fine. My real name is Edgar Wood.” There was a pregnant pause. Even the masked men sounded like they were holding their breath. 

  “See, that wasn't so hard. Now tell me, why did Free hire you.”

  Ryan breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I really am a freelancer, and I really don't know why he hired me.”

  “You know, Edgar, I did some research on you. You're a sniper, not a body guard. Why would free hire a sniper of all people to bodyguard for him. Your story isn't making sense, try harder.” There was real venom in her voice. 

  As soon as her voice stopped, the butt of a gun slammed into his side. He doubled over, feeling the blooming bruise.

  Ryan cursed, curling into himself at the pain. “I don't know what to fucking tell you, lady?” he groaned. 

  “How’s about that you're the Vagabond?”

  Ryan flinched again, expecting the hard butt of a gun in his ribs again. “I'm the fucking Vagabond?” Ryan laughed dryly, but it came out choked when the movement sent sharp pains through his body.

  “You're fame has made you reckless. Any idiot could identify the similarities in your styles. Now, tell me, how would a mob boss's son and a hitman join forces? Perhaps Free was putting a hit on someone?”

  “He just wanted the protection, he never took out a hit,” Ryan said.

  “So the fact that my boss, his father's enemy, turned up dead is a coincidence.”

  Ryan groaned. What a fucking mess he’d gotten himself into. “Yes,” he said.

  “I don't believe you.”

  The next hit came to the back of his skull, and he suddenly felt dizzy.


	11. Caged

  Ryan woke when a guard jostled him to consciousness. He was dragged around by the forearms with his blindfold on so he stumbled more than once. Each stumble was met with a sharp jab in the back, and his ribs already ached.

  From the way their steps echoed he could tell the building was cement, not too big but not small. The stairs going down told him it was partially underground. The rattle of bars told him he was in a cell. The stale metallic scent told him it was used frequently. He felt a heavy pit in his stomach at the last observation.

  Once he was safely caged in they pulled the blindfold off. He didn't see the woman, but the armed guards were standing outside with guns trained on him.

  Gavin was in the cell behind him. He wasn't chained up, rather he was reclining against the wall. He looked bored, messing with a loose string on his shirt and humming. There were some tells that we was worrying, like the way his hair was unusually messy, or the way his body was unnaturally stiff, shoulders too hunched. When the guards left the cell block, Gavin got up and dashed to their joining wall.

  All at once his calm demeanor fell, and he looked tired, looked stressed.

  “Rye, are you okay?” His voice was hushed so anyone listening in couldn't hear them.

  “I’m fine. You?”

  “Better,” he said, letting a sigh out. “Bloody hell, they were telling me they were going to-” his voice cracked. “They told me they were going to kill you. Bloody hell, Rye. I told them that you're my bodyguard.” 

  Ryan frowned, a wave of white hot anger coursing through his veins. Gavin looked wrecked, dark eyes and messy hair and crescents in his palms from fisting his hands too hard. “I'm fine,” he breathed. “What did they ask you?”

  “Who you were. I said I didn't know. I told them I hired Edgar as my bodyguard. Was that fine?”

 Ryan nodded. “They know about the Vagabond, though. They think you hired me to take out the other Don, the guy your dad's been fighting.”

  Gavin’s face fell. Ryan watched him, wishing there weren't bars between him so he could pull him close.

  “How long have you been here?” he asked, changing the subject.

  “Not long. Hour or so.” Gavin hesitated before adding “Have you got a plan for getting out of here?”

  Ryan glanced around. “Jeremy saw the woman take me to the van. I'm hoping he trailed her, or somehow alerted the crew. Beyond that, no.”

  There was a flash of hope in Gavin’s eyes. “Christ, he better show.”

  There was a heavy silence between them as they both acknowledged what might happen if he didn't.

~

_ Three hours _ .

  Ryan was anxious. 

  The room was dead silent as they cut the conversation. Every once in awhile one of the masked guards came in, so they decided it safer to not talk at all.

  To top it all off, his rib ached. He tried controlled breathing, inhaling for five seconds and exhaling for seven. It wasn’t working. Ryan wondered if the rib was broken. He’d pulled his shirt up to look and there was a mighty bruise spread over the area.

  “You're hurt?” Gavin asked, moving closer to look at the injury.

  “It's fine,” Ryan assured, but Gavin wasn't buying it.

  “What happened?”

  There was a look in his eyes like guilt, like he was the one who beat him with the back of the rifle. Ryan pulled his shirt down and reached through the bars to touch his hand.

  “It's fine, I promise.”

  Hours later, three he thought, he was was just scared. Gavin was lying down, arm thrown over his eyes and hand resting on his stomach. He couldn't tell what the lad was thinking, whether he was scared as well, or calm. He wished he could.

  “For one million dollars, would you only wear pink for the rest of your life?” The hypothetical was uttered with less enthusiasm than they usually were.

  Ryan almost told Gavin to stop, to be serious, or to shush in case one of the guards came down, but a distraction sounded good, and he knew they could both use it.

  “Pink? Sure, it's not a bad color.”

  For a split second, Gavin smiled. Ryan felt a ton of stress fall off his shoulders.

  “What about lime green?”

  Ryan hummed. “I look good in green.”

  “Not lime green. No one looks good in lime green.”

  “That's true. For undercover situations, I can't imagine lime green would be good anyways. I'll say no.”

  Gavin smiled, a real smile. It faltered after a minute as he remembered where he was. Ryan sighed.

  “Hey, we’ll be fine,” he offered. Gavin looked away from him, to the ceiling.

  “How long have we been in here?”

  Ryan looked down at his watch. The face was broken but the hands still seemed to work. 

  “Three hours.”

  Gavin blinked, almost a flinch, like someone had swung at him.

  “For a million dollars,” Ryan started. Gavin looked over at him expectantly. “Would you only listen to Kidz Bop for the rest of your life.”

  Gavin considered this. “For the rest of my life? God no.”

  “What about a billion dollars?”

  “There’s not enough money in the world,” Gavin said.

  “Aww, Kidz Bop isn't that bad.”

  “No, they are,” Gavin said. 

  Ryan chuckled. “So that's a no then?”

  “Yeah,” Gavin scoffed.

  Ryan leaned back against the concrete wall. His rib ached at the pressure, a reminder.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  Ryan looked over at Gavin, who was staring at him. He held the lads gaze for a moment, searching for the meaning of his words, before replying. “For?”

  Gavin was quiet for a moment. “This. You wouldn't be here if not for me.”

  “Fuck, Gav, you'd probably be dead if you hadn't got my help,” Ryan said.

  “I'll be dead anyways.”

  “Don't-” Ryan said quickly. “Don’t say that.”

  Gavin looked back at him. Ryan felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. There were tears running down Gavin’s cheeks, glistening in his eye.

  “I love you, Rye. I do. I've loved you since the movie theatre, before we even started dating. You’re so nice to me, and all I did for you was get you killed. I’m sorry.”

  Ryan let out a shaky breath. “Gavin, I love you too. We’re going to get out of here, alright. Jeremy is coming, I promise. No one but them is dying tonight.”

~

_ Four hours _ .

Gavin was curled into the furthest corner of his cell, completely still. Ryan hadn't heard a word from him in nearly an hour and he wasn’t sure if the lad was even still awake. Ryan hadn't pressed him after the outburst, deciding instead to give him some space.

  Ryan was worried about him, though. He’d spent the last hour or so trying to figure out an escape route. They were careful, though. There were no windows in the block, and they’d took everything from him he could have used to escape. He was trapped like a rat, and he couldn't do anything about it.

  When the door opened, Ryan didn't pay it much mind. Guards checked on them periodically, but the click-clack of heels made him look up in time to see the woman descending the stairs. Ryan followed her with his eyes, keeping his body stiff.

  She stopped in front of Gavin’s cell and just stared at him. There was a sick sneer on her lips. 

  “What do you want with him?” Ryan growled. 

  “What do you think?” she asked. 

  “Well I thought you were sent by his father's rival boss to take him out but apparently he couldn't keep himself alive long enough to do so, so I don't know.”

  “You think we’d be stuck after the death of one boss? His brother, the new Don, sent us to get you and the kid for revenge. We don't take assassination lightly. He’s coming to do the honors himself.” Her eyes focussed on Gavin. He was asleep now. Or maybe just pretending to be. 

  “He wasn't here to begin with? Did he not think you'd catch us?” Ryan asked.

  “He probably didn't you'd be so dumb as to get caught.”

  “Either way there's a lack of faith on your part.” 

  She sneered, then walked over to Ryan’s cell. She examined him for a second with a disgusted look on her face. “I'm beginning to think your reputation precedes you. The Mad King, the Vagabond,” she said in a mocking tone. “You're no different from the other scumbag criminals in this city. You're just some stupid fool who thinks he can make a quick dime playing with guns. I truly didn't think it would be so easy to catch you. Kind of odd that all I had to do was threaten Free, isn't it? I'll make sure to tell the boss that.”

  She turned on her heel before Ryan could reply, leaving Ryan to stew in the anger and fear she left in her wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I combined the last two chapters so the next chapter is the final!


	12. The End

_ Five hours. _

  Ryan felt numb, and he too was drifting to sleep. The cell was uncomfortable, especially since his torso was blazing with pain and he couldn't find a comfortable way to ward the pain off in the concrete cell.

  “Gavin?” he asked. 

  The lad flinched at his voice, and there was a pregnant pause before he continued. “Yeah?”

  Ryan hadn't expected the lad to respond, so he hadn't anything to say.

  “How’re you feeling?”

  Gavin shrugged. “Tired, mostly. Wish they'd get on with it already.” The last part was quiet.

  Ryan started to speak but couldn't find the words. He stared at Gavin sadly.

  A part of him had come to terms with the fact that he would die. In their line of work you had to realize that death was inevitable. Joining the Fake AH Crew had made Ryan more appreciative of his life, but he wasn't naïve. No, he was more sad that Gavin was going to die, and he was going to have to watch. At that moment he would have given anything the be able to kiss the lad one more time.

  “Hey,” he said. 

  Gavin looked over at him, at his outstretched hand between the bars. He hesitated before reaching out and accepting Ryan's hand. He relaxed at the pressure of Gavin's hand around his. 

  The loud  _ rat-tat-tat _ from upstairs startled Ryan. They both froze, a hesitant optimism between the two of them. Neither said anything.

  The commotion was drowned out by the thick concrete walls, but they could still hear the fire fight. And when the door swung open they could hear it loud and clear, people screaming, gun fire. 

  Ryan didn't think he’d ever be happier to see Geoff than he was in that moment. He felt a thousand pounds of weight fall from his shoulders.

  Gavin didn't move for a moment, staring at Geoff in disbelief. He waited until Ryan was unchained to get up, wobbly, and run to Geoff.

  “Jesus, what'd they do to you guys?” Geoff asked, confused. He squeezed Gavin back, his eyes soft.

  “Can we go home? Please?” Gavin asked. He peeled himself from Geoff and wrapped his arms around himself. Ryan contemplated reaching out to him.

  “Of course, buddy. We just need to wrap things up here. Shouldn't take long, these people were scarily under armed. Speaking of.” 

  Geoff reached in his jacket and pulled out a gun, handing it to Ryan. He accepted it eagerly, a vengeful spark in his mind. He checked the clip and shoved it in his belt. 

  Geoff handed Gavin one too, his tacky gold gun. Gavin relaxed a little at the weight of steel in his palm.

  “C’mon, let's go kick some ass,” Geoff said, leading them upstairs. Gavin reached over and squeezed Ryan’s hand once before they emerged into the firefight.

~

  Ryan knew who he was looking for when he emerged from the basement. Geoff covered him while he walked down the halls, breaking down every door until he found her.

  She was in the last room, an office, loading a gun quickly. When Ryan walked in she aimed at him. There was real fear on her face. Ryan felt a satisfaction at that.

  “Don't take a step closer, I'll shoot!” she said. Her voice was shaky but her hand was steady.

  Ryan felt white hot rage at the sight of her. He gripped the handle of her gun, a million scenarios playing out in his head. He wanted her to suffer. He wanted to reciprocate all the fear and pain he and Gavin felt locked up in that cell.

  But, time constraints and the overpowering need to just go home prevented him from doing anything elaborate, sadly. He could settle.

~

  Ryan took a long shower, standing under the hot water until it was cold.  He had a bruise on the base of his skull from the gun, but his broken rib was his biggest issue. Kerry gave him a powerful pain killer and told him it'd head fine with bedrest, and Ryan hadn't objected to the idea of laying in bed for a week.

  When he went into his room afterwards, he found Gavin already there. He looked up from whatever he was doing on his phone when Ryan entered then smiled. It was a tired smile, joined by dark bags under his eyes and messy hair.

  “Hey,” Ryan said. He walked over and kissed him, slow. Gavin tangled his fingers in Ryan’s damp hair, holding him close but not escalating it.

  “Hey,” he said when he pulled back. He moved his hand to Ryan’s cheek, dragging his thumb along his jaw. His hazel eyes studied Ryan’s face before letting Ryan go. He looked relieved.   

  “Sit, I'll tape your side for you,” Gavin said, then patted the bed beside him. He retrieved the first aid kit from the living room and sat so he had a good angle of Ryan’s injured rib. He cringed at the bruise there. It wasn't particularly bad, but it was large and spread over a foot or so of his side.

  “Raise your arm,” Gavin said. Ryan listened.

  Gavin worked in silence. He was gentle, making sure the bindings weren't too tight and being careful not to further exasperate Ryan's injury. There was a long silence before he spoke again.

  “Ryan?”

  “Hmm?”

  He continued at his task, not even looking up to see Ryan’s face as he let the words spill quickly. “I love you. Even before, well, everything. I've loved you for a long time, since the movie theatre, but you know how I am. I'm no good with feelings unless I'm drunk, but I love you. A lot.”

  Ryan stopped him with a hand over his. “I love you too, Gavin,” Ryan said. 

  Cautiously, Gavin sat up and kissed him.  It was , but neither of them wanted anything more. Gavin needed the assurance that Ryan was still there, not dead back in the cell, and Ryan needed to know that Gavin was okay. Once Ryan's rib was wrapped they settled in bed. Ryan drew Gavin as close as he could without hurting and they fell asleep, listening to the steady sighs of each other's breaths.

~

  Killing the woman didn't stop the other gang from coming for Gavin. It did, however, make Geoff aware of what was happening.

  The couple days after the incident he pulled them aside into the conference room and asked what was going on. 

  Ryan knew this was coming, and he also knew that they couldn't keep it from Geoff anymore.

  Gavin seemed to be on the same wavelength, so he spilled. He told Geoff about his father, about the mafia and the warring Dons. He told him that he enlisted Ryan as his hitman, and made sure that Geoff knew that all the blame for the lie should go to him and not Ryan.

  Geoff wasn't angry, which Ryan was thankful for. Rather, he was concerned.

  “Gavin, you should have told me. I could have helped,” he said in a paternal tone. 

  “Geoff we both know what you'd have done if I told you,” Gavin said.

  Geoff shrugged, but he seemed to understand Gavin’s thought process. “Well, how's this, you two can help clean this mess up. We need a game plan.”

  “I was thinking we should just sit tight until it blows over,” Ryan said. “Retreat to a safe house out of state.”

  “How long will the fighting be?” Geoff asked, looking at Gavin.

  “Not much longer. The old Don was killed, and his son took over. He more wants revenge on whoever killed him now.”

  Geoff nodded and leaned back in his seat. “Maybe you should call your dad and get a status report. Maybe tell him everything that's happened, if you haven't already.”

  Gavin looked hesitant. Geoff sighed, then leaned forward. “Well, the only other thing we can do is send someone out to London to get a feel of the situation or hire informants. Both are incredibly risky for us. If you really feel that strongly about not wanting to call him, I can do send them. But I'd rather not.”

  Gavin relented. “I'll call him.”

  Geoff nodded. “Alright. I need to start preparations. Come talk to me after you've done it.”

~

  Gavin called his father at noon.

  “I haven't talked to him in a year,” Gavin said absently. Ryan could hear the rings through the speaker.

  They were in their room, door closed. Gavin was sitting against the headrest beside Ryan with his phone in hand.

  It rung three times before his father picked up.

  “Gavin?” His voice was tinny over the speaker, but still deep and intimidating. He sounded like a Bond villain.

  “Hello, dad.”

  “Hello. I haven't heard from you in ages. What made you decide to call now. Nothing bad, I hope?”

  Gavin took a deep breath before explaining everything that’d happened, from discovering he had hits being taken out on him to getting locked in the cell of the building. 

  “Where are you? Are you still in England?” was the first thing his father asked after everything.

  “America. In Los Santos, California.”

  He paused for a second. “Why?”

  “I'm in a crew.”

  “Which crew?” he asked cautiously, like he knew the answer.

  “Fake AH Crew.”

  His father was silent for all of a minute. “Wow,” he dumbly. “I saw you on the news. You guys took $20 million from a casino. That's bloody impressive.”

  Gavin nearly smiled. “Yeah it was. Fun as well.”

  “I’ll send some men over to Los Santos to keep an eye out. Best I could recommend is to head out of state for a while, though. It shouldn't be much longer. He’s a hasty lad, he’s losing men rapidly trying to find his father's killer. Either he'll come to his senses soon or lose his position. I can call you when it's safe. Is this your personal phone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. I'll let you go. I reckon you're a busy man.”

  “Alright. Thank you,” Gavin said.

  “No, it's my fault you're in this mess. And Gavin, don't be a stranger anymore.”

~

  Geoff put the team into defense mode. That meant cutting them off from anything that might put the crew at risk. Geoff didn't like doing this as it involved a lot of territory and contact recovery afterwards, but it was necessary.

  It was a gradual process. They had to complete any jobs they were currently on first.  Not everyone was on job,  but some, like Ray, we're on jobs that wouldn't be compete for a month.

  It took two months until it was in full effect. It was then that they moved to their safe house in Austin. It was less a safe house and more two houses on the outer limits of the city in the middle of suburbia. The lads occupied one house and the Gents the other, but the day usually ended with everyone crashing in one house. 

  Besides that, Gavin and Ryan shared their rooms. If the group had spent the evening at the Gent’s house,  they would crash in Ryan’s room, and vice versa. They'd reached the point where the room wasn't just Ryan’s room or Gavin’s room, but rather “their” room. It was such a small detail, but Ryan found it thrilling. Back in Los Santos, Gavin had also been slowly incorporating his clothes and items into Ryan’s room. 

  The last serious relationship Ryan had had was when he was fresh out of college and not an infamous murderer. He had a serious thing with a woman and after nearly a year she started entertaining the idea of them moving in together. Ryan had commitment issues and this scared him so much that he left her that week.

  Ryan had been afraid of this happening with Gavin, but he was actually excited at the prospect of getting closer with him. Maybe time had matured him, or maybe it was because he already kind of lived with the lad. Either way, he was happy that he was letting himself be happy with Gavin.

~

  It was a month and a half before Gavin’s dad called him again. He told them it was safe, but he still had men posted around their block in case. They packed up and left that afternoon, anxious to get back home.

  It was dark when they got back, but the sun was rising. Gavin followed Ryan to his room and dropped his suitcase by the door. He fell onto the bed and sighed. Ryan smiled at the sight of Gavin making himself at home in his bed.

  “I'm spent,” he muttered.

  Ryan laid beside him. “Me too.”

  Gavin scooted close so he could curl into Ryan’s side.

  Their room was dim as the sun came out. By the time they were undressed and in bed there was orange streaks coming in through the curtains.

  Ryan wasn't that tired, so he laid in bed and listened to Gavin’s slow breathes, the muted sound of Ray watching Netflix in his room, the sound of Geoff and Michael talking in the living room, the sound of the city waking up 40 storeys below.

  Three years ago, when the Vagabond was just a scared whisper in alleyways, he would have never imagined he’d someday be in a house full of people who he’d literally die for. Two years ago, when he was first joining the crew, he could never have guessed that he'd fall in love with the resident thief and apparent son of a crime lord who took dumb risks for no other reason than “it's funny!”. 

  Now he couldn't imagine it any other way. He barely remembered the days when he lived in a dingy apartment and rarely saw the sun because he was out all night working. He couldn't see himself as anybody but who he was now; the third gent, who cooked dinner on Thursdays, fixed the computers when they went haywire, and sometimes told dad jokes that made the crew groan. 

  He was happier than he had been in years, and he owed it all to his crew, his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone was satisfied with the ending! Thank you to everyone who read this and left lovely comments and gave kudos. I appreciate each and every one of you! <3
> 
> Shameless self promotion time. I'm [Mcusekat](http://www.desertsongs.co.vu/) on Tumblr. Come and say hi, or send me a prompt if you like my style :)


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